Lawrence crime, fire, courts coverage

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Douglas County prosecutors have charged a 48-year-old Lawrence man with rape and aggravated kidnapping in connection with an alleged sexual assault early Sunday morning at an apartment in south Lawrence.

The man appeared in Douglas County District Court today via video from the Douglas County Jail, where he had been held without bond since his arrest about 5 p.m. Sunday.

Lawrence police arrested the man after taking a report from a 28-year-old woman being treated for injuries at Lawrence Memorial Hospital about 4 a.m. Sunday. The woman told police she had been assaulted by a male acquaintance at an apartment on the city’s south side, was rendered unconscious, and thought she might have been sexually assaulted, said Kim Murphree, a Lawrence Police Department spokeswoman.

Today in court, the man denied the charges. Pro Tem Judge James George set bond in the case at $100,000 and appointed a public defender to represent the man at his next court appearance on July 23. The man was on parole after spending time in Kansas prisons for a Douglas County theft conviction, and he also faces a misdemeanor theft charge from July of last year.

Both the rape and the kidnapping charge can carry sentences of more than 50 years in prison. The man is also charged with attempted rape, which can carry a prison sentence of more than 20 years.

The Journal-World generally does not name suspects in sex crimes unless they’re convicted.